Owl Tracks
by Hahukum Konn
Summary: Hedwig and Zeus observe their masters Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, while becoming fast friends themselves. Part of the Erasing Time's Tracks story arc.
1. Chapter 1

**Erasing Time's Tracks (Owl version)**  
Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to J. K. Rowling.

- - -

The white snowy owl was sitting quietly in Eeylops Owl Emporium, looking imperiously about at the rather noisy lot of other owls flitting about and generally making a nuisance of themselves, disturbing her serene contemplation of the world around her.

She was, after all, a snowy owl, not just _any _owl. Such owls do not allow themselves to be perturbed by the outside world. It simply wouldn't do for her to be distracted by every little thing when her duty was clear: whoever she was to carry letters for had to trust that she would get the job done as quickly as possible.

A bit later on, an extremely large speaking creature with a kindly aura about him picked her cage up, causing her to ruffle her feathers and hoot indignantly.

The man said, "Eh, sorry bou' tha'. Jest buyin' yer for a little fella, real important little fella he is. But I oughter pay for yeh now."

After that, he plunked her cage on the table near the proprietor's box of gold coins, and the two men exchanged those funny golden coins those speaking creatures made so much fuss over. Not long after that, she was presented to a rather tiny speaking creature, whose gratitude and appreciation for her was extremely clear in his magical aura.

What was not commonly known was that oftentimes the choice of owl by an owner was dependent on how compatible their magical auras were, since an owl familiar had to be a trustworthy, dependable one who could respond to – and the very smart ones (such as herself, of course!) could even anticipate – his or her master's intentions.

Even though she'd been purchased _for_ him, she still felt a very strong magical connection with the speaking creature that seemed to transcend a mere transaction of currency.

**- - -**

The black-haired speaking creature had announced himself as 'Harry', and had chosen a name for her: 'Hedwig'. It suited her very well, and she hooted in pleasure at the choice of name. The impression she'd gotten was that in Harry's language, a 'Hedwig' was a strong person.

She then remembered the first owl friend she'd made. It had all started when that brown eagle owl had swooped into her master's window, delivering that letter which piqued Harry's curiosity. The other owl expressed pleasure at efficiently delivering his post with a minimum of fuss, and without being observed.

Certainly he had meant no harm to Harry when he'd first delivered that letter, and the two had introduced themselves that day.

Magical owls were smarter than many of their owners gave them credit for, and if their communication were able to be translated into human language, that first meeting would be recorded thus.

"_Who are you? I am Hedwig."_

"_I'm Zeus."_

The eagle owl had occasionally returned over the course of Hedwig's time in the small bedroom, although it was certainly spacious by the standards of the place in which she had used to reside.

Zeus was startled to find out that Hedwig had only had a cage to herself, with no freedom to fly around her master's residence. Zeus had unparalleled space at his master's house, and expressed concern that Hedwig's master might be mistreating her in some way.

Hedwig indignantly replied that nothing of the sort ever happened, and Zeus had hooted a bit bashfully. Her master, Harry, had looked up at the pair of them, and after realising the two were just hooting at each other, smiled and continued doing what he had been before, which was paying great attention to the device he called a _book_.

Later on, the two owls had been brought to what the humans called an _Owlery_, after having made the journey by a moving vehicle called a _train_. The Owlery was a very nice, wide-open space where all the owls could perch, and be free to go hunting whenever they wanted, except for when the post was to be delivered.

Hedwig got into the habit of watching for the post owls, and swooping in with them to be near her master. It wasn't his fault he didn't get any post from anyone else, now that Zeus was with her at the Owlery.

This meant that Hedwig knew that the young yellow-haired master who often sat next to her own, was the one who Zeus belonged to. He had the same nonthreatening nature as Zeus did, with an added layer of protectiveness. Certainly her master needed someone like that after dealing with the strange round person and the strange sharp-voiced person Harry seemed to defer to.

She would greet both masters and then stand near her master, happy to be spoiled with the human food he ate and fed her. Zeus didn't always come to breakfast with her, but they would hunt mice together.

On one such occasion, it was nearing sun-down, and many of the speaking creatures, which she had learned called each other _humans_, were sitting on the grass or walking around.

Hedwig felt she could do with a few mice herself, and swept out of the Owlery, with Zeus in tow. It wasn't long before the two were paying more attention to their acrobatics in the air, swooping around each other, arcing into the air and in general not noticing the ground.

Only at the last minute, just before she was about to pull out of a dive, did she notice a delectable, brown rat scurrying back to Hogwarts. Hooting once to announce her intentions to Zeus, she zoomed down, the air rustling past her wings as she flapped them with all her effort.

Unfortunately, just as she was about to scoop the rat up in her talons, its frantic digging had gotten results as it scurried into a small nook it had made for itself, and her talons scraped uselessly along the grass for some distance before she irritably flew back into the air.

Only after having flown nearly to the area where there were human-built structures to snatch a few mice did Hedwig realise the rat's strange aura – it had been almost… _human_, like her master's.

Although she had gotten used to some of the idiosyncrasies of her master's people, such as Harry's shyness around the blond boy and some others near him, she could not fathom why they would voluntarily choose to look like rats.

Perhaps she would hoot at the rat next time, just to annoy it.

* * *

Author Notes: 

This is a standalone one-shot set in the Erasing-verse, but I may add more chapters from Hedwig's or Zeus's POV as the main story evolves. I don't know that there's been many stories from owl-POVs and I thought I'd do this one. :)

Thanks go to **Kirinin** and **Maddevillechilde** for the beta work. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Owl**** Tracks**  
Chapter 2

Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to J. K. Rowling.

- - -

The brown eagle owl saw the white snowy owl be taken out of the shop by the absurdly large speaking creature, and wondered when a speaking creature would bond with him. He would be absolutely sure to deliver any post promptly! Fluttering his wings, he dipped his beak into the water bowl that the proprietor brought around and looked around again.

He noticed with some irritation that a very tiny owl, fluttering madly about in his cage, was making an awful racket; if his (or her) incoherent hootings could be interpreted, the owl was saying, "_Get me out of here already! I want to fly!_"

However, luck was with him that day, as a rather short, yellow-haired speaking creature entered the store and walked directly to his cage, looking at him and saying, "Hello, there. Want to come with me? I like eagle owls, you know."

The eagle owl was pleased to have found such an excellent match, and expressed his delight. He was momentarily startled when his cage was unbalanced, but relaxed as he and his cage were carefully transported to the front of the shop, where the yellow-haired being gave some pieces made of gold to the proprietor.

After that, his cage was handed to a taller yellow-haired version of the younger being (of sorts; this was the boy's mother), and he looked on in some confusion as the young speaking creatures chattered in their high-pitched voices while standing in front of a clear barrier that separated them from a device that they called a _broom_. Apparently, it would let them fly without wings!

After some time, the young one rejoined his mother, and they took a horribly disorienting flame journey to the residence where he would be staying. As his was brought into the young one's room, he tried hooting that he was sick, but unfortunately littered the bottom of the cage with that morning's owl nuts. Embarrassed, he feebly hooted again as his cage was placed on the floor.

The young speaking creature said, "Oh, no! I'm sorry! Here, let me get rid of that for you."

The boy pointed his stick, which the owl later learned was a _wand_, at the bottom of the cage, and said, "_Evanesco_."

Amazingly, all the sick disappeared, and the owl felt much better at knowing he hadn't disappointed his new owner, who was speaking again, "Hmm. I'll give you a name now. Would you like to be called 'Zeus'?"

_Zeus_. A fine name! He hooted his pleasure, and was rewarded by a pleasing aura from his master, who said, "Good! My name is Draco. We'll get on just fine, just like before!"

Perplexed, Zeus attempted to reach out again to his master's aura, only to find that it seemed to be made of a being that was older than this young one should be – more like the auras from speaking creatures that spoke almost like adults did, but requested treats for their owls at this strange _Hogwarts_.

Clearly, Zeus had an unusual master. He looked forward to serving this one very well.

- - -

The first time he had to deliver a letter, it was to a "Harry Potter". His master said it was very important to not be seen, as beings called_ Muggles_ were in the area. Indicating his acknowledgement, he hooted his readiness and fluffed his wings out a bit. He was guided to the window, which popped open at the recital of some words, and he flew out, rapidly ascending into the sky while clutching the all-important missive in his talons.

His master was so smart! Just as instructed, he discerned only one magical aura in the area to which his homing instinct had indicated, and this must be Harry Potter.

He carefully flew until he was almost directly over the residence, then swiftly zoomed straight down and swooped inside the room where a black-haired speaking creature lay on his bed, with strange round devices in front of his eyes. The white snowy owl who had left the shop the same day as he was there!

Before he could be distracted by her, he left the envelope on the bed near the boy, then took up a position near the white owl's cage. He was pleased at his work, and introduced himself to her.

After reading the paper with markings on it, Harry Potter said, "It's fine. I'll send a reply later with Hedwig. You can go home now, if you like."

Zeus, although disappointed at being unable to carry owl post on the return trip, hooted to Hedwig: "_I think I will see you at my master's place. And I shall be back!"_

And so it transpired that the two owls encountered each other several times delivering correspondence for their masters. Zeus found out that Hedwig especially liked the owl nuts they had been served for breakfast each morning, while he seemed to prefer the prey that he could find in the sprawling wilderness near his master's residence.

At the place called Hogwarts, which the owls learned was something called a_ school_, where their masters would be instructed in all sorts of things ranging from learning about the foolishness of their ancestors to making strange liquids that bubbled and smoked, the owls quickly grew fond of each other, and were pleased to see that their masters were also becoming close.

It portended pleasant times ahead.

* * *

Author Notes:

As you can see, Pigwidgeon makes a cameo appearance here. I bet he was so annoying the owner of Eeylops chucked him out, and Sirius found him madly flittering about Britain somewhere. :-)


End file.
